Fort Collins City Council bans cardboard from trash

Mar. 6, 2013

Written by

Coloradoan staff

Recycling Drop-off Facility

Fort Collins residents and businesses can recycle cardboard and other materials at the city's full-service recycling drop-off facility, located at 1702 Riverside Avenue. The one-acre drop-off site is open during daylight hours, seven days a week, year-round to the public.

Fort Collins residents will be prohibited from putting cardboard boxes into the trash now that the City Council banned the practice.

The council, during its meeting Tuesday, approved on final reading an ordinance that prohibits residents and businesses from placing corrugated cardboard in the waste stream. The ordinance is intended to require recycling or repurposing of bulky cardboard to keep it out of local landfills.

The city’s requirement to recycle cardboard will be a first in Colorado, although other cities across the country have bans on trashing cardboard, city officials say.

The goal of the regulation is to reduce the amount of cardboard that ends up in local landfills. About 12,000 tons of cardboard is generated every year in Fort Collins, but only about 4,200 tons of it gets recycled, said Susie Gordon, a senior environmental planner.

The ban also could help Fort Collins meet its goal of diverting 50 percent of trash generated in the city from landfills as is stated in various environmental plans.

Under the ordinance, trash haulers will be prohibited from picking up trash bins in which more than 25 percent of contents is cardboard. But they could still charge a pickup fee.